Wednesday: 13Morning: 8 miles on Pawcatuck quiet streets, including neighborhoods and River Road, Greenhaven Road. Pushed the pace here to see what it would be like running sub-MP. Average 6:27 pace.Afternoon: 4.6 miles running with WMS track team "long distance" runners. Coach Leanne had asked me before season if I'd periodically lead the faster distance runners on runs off the school campus, which I'm thrilled to. The rules I had to follow were easy enough: 1) fill out paperwork at school personnel office, 2) go to Westerly Police Dept for a background check, 3) no running on Route 1 (crossing it is OK), 4) carry a cell phone and be reachable during run, and 5) everyone has to stay together. We started out with a small group of 3 runners as a trial. Matthew was one and gave me additional rules: 1) no running next to him, 2) no talking to him, 3) no telling my "dorky" jokes during the run. The coach gave me a 35-40 minute guideline, encouraged short fartleks, and we're off:
High 7s pace winding down to Canal Street, turned into quieter North End where we ran 5 x [2 telephone poles hard, 2 poles slow jog], then ran stairs fast in the Amtrak tunnel (Muddy and Mike B hated me for this at the end of a 15-miler, but the kids said it was "cool"). Everyone stayed together until the last 1/2 mile for the hill climbs up Narragansett Ave back to the WHS track, when two went ahead, and I dropped back with the last girl (sort of like when Mike G was kind enough to drop back with me on the last monster Foster hill climb on our 27-miler). Was momentarily concerned I might have pushed too hard, until I saw the 3 of them voluntarily run extra track laps and Matthew later asked if we can push the pace a bit more next time.

Thursday: 0
Was ready for a run, until I remembered I'm trying to keep my mileage below 50 this week as part of a taper. Seems like a wierd reason not to run, but I'm sticking with the plan.

Friday: 5
Easy and fun trail run in Barn Island with FiveK and Crutch. We ran on mostly single track, and finished up on Wequetequock Cove, where the sun and weather was beautiful.

Saturday: 13
Big River Half Marathon, including warm-up, and less the distance Tom & I unfortunately lost going off course. Separate write-up posted.

Sunday: 4
Easter morning recovery run on local roads. Felt sore and even a little knee pain. Hope it's nothing; will take the next 1-2 days off to rest.

Weekly mileage total: 40

Week summary: Successfully tapering down the mileage, although it requires a conscious effort not to run more. Highlights were a mid-week 8-mile run at sub-6:30, and the fun if not off course run I did in Big River on Saturday.
Looking ahead to next week, I'll continue to ramp down the mileage, probably aiming for about 30. Maybe a mid-week 8 miler at moderate pace again, and then wrap up next week with racing the Clamdigger.